'To speak with Christina Sharpe is to converse with a constellation' - Guy Gunaratne In this extract from Wasafiri 123, Christina Sharpe speaks to @guygunaratne.bsky.social about the origins behind her most recent work — ORDINARY NOTES. buff.ly/P3ittBD

🚨Internship Alert! An opportunity is available for a @chase-dtp.bsky.social-funded PhD student to join Wasafiri on a year-long editorial placement, providing invaluable experience within an academic and literary journal. DEADLINE: Midnight, Sunday, 2 November 2025

We've curated a selection of relevant reading materials for Black History Month. These issues focus on how we aesthetically and politically reckon with the Windrush scandal, as well as exploring The Caribbean Artists Movement and the Black British canon.

Come join us at our many October events! From a conversation on belonging to writing when the world is ill, from a translators' pitching workshop to a public lecture on literary prizes, we have a lot happening this month! All ticket links available in our bio. See you there!

This is a beautiful reflection piece on language and heritage.

This International Translation Day, we're thrilled to announce two events with Anton Hur in London! Anton will deliver a workshop and lecture on translation, Korean literature, literary prize culture, and more. Click here for full details and registration: buff.ly/uQNOJRb

We are thrilled to share the shortlists for the 2025 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize, judged by Anton Hur (Fiction), @noreenmasud.bsky.social (Life Writing), and Yasmine Seale (Poetry), and chaired by Romesh Gunesekera.  Discover the shortlists in the full announcement here: buff.ly/KoSXsrb

Read an extract from 'Why Does the Cat?', a short story from Bora Chung's latest collection, THE MIDNIGHT TIMETABLE (Dialogue Books), translated by @antonhur.com. In this terrifying – and sometimes wry – story, a man finds himself haunted by the ghost of his murder victim. buff.ly/EwoND80

This year's Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize ceremony will be preceded by a roundtable on 'Translating Colour' with three prominent translators: Anita Baron-Williams, @sawadhussain.bsky.social, and Rahul Soni. Please join us for what promises to be an illuminating evening:

We're delighted to announce four curated online writing workshops tutored by our inaugural International Translator in Residence, the International Booker Prize winning writer-translator, Deepa Bhasthi. The first pair of workshops will be held in autumn 2025. Registration: buff.ly/Gguo10u

Read an exclusive extract from Ning Ken's forthcoming novel, TIBETAN SKY, translated by Thomas Moran —a philosophical work of fiction about a disillusioned academic and the complex history of Tibet. TIBETAN SKY is out with @sinoistbooks.bsky.social on 26 September. www.wasafiri.org/content/excl...

Wasafiri, Centre for Contemporary Writing (Queen Mary University of London), and @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social present an afternoon of poetry with Sophie Chauhan, Sasha Debevec-McKenney, and lisa minerva luxx. When: Sat, 27 September, 3.30-5.30pm Where: Whitechapel Gallery, London

We're on Bookshop.org! Every time you buy a book through our @bookshop.org page, a small percentage comes to us, helping to support the continued running of Wasafiri. Happy shopping! buff.ly/i9Ycp95

Wasafiri and Tagore's Salon are delighted to be co-hosting an event with writers Dur e Aziz Amna and @farah-ali.bsky.social, titled Writing Through Pain: On Labour and Literature. When: Wed, 15 October, 7pm Where: @bricklanebookshop.bsky.social, London Tickets: £6 buff.ly/tfcYH33

It's here. BAD LANGUAGE 13/11/25 "made with love and horror, & a guidebook for our time" — @adamzmith.bsky.social "Mayer's words & a gift and a gateway" — @elizabethlovatt.bsky.social "incantation & spell distil a complex argument" — Lola Olufemi Pre-order: peninsulapress.co.uk/products/bad...

We are thrilled to showcase a special focus on Tibet in our latest issue, Wasafiri 123. Many Tibets are displayed here. Old and new, sacred and secular, real and imagined, lost and found.' - Editorial by @sanagoyal.bsky.social Wasafiri 123 is available to order now: buff.ly/89LLR9Q

'Pain is the currency of this city.' Artist, writer, and photographer Augustine Paredes reads from his poem 'The Love Motel', published in Wasafiri 122.

The Editorial of our latest issue, Wasafiri 123 - titled 'Red Matter, White Page' and written by our Editor, @sanagoyal.bsky.social – approaches blood as a thematic throughline, flowing through and between the varied writing and art in this issue. Read in full now:

We're delighted to be partnering with Birmingham Literature Festival for an event with writers Dalia Al-Dujaili and SJ Kim on the subject of belonging to a land and to a nation. When: Saturday, 11 October, 5-6pm Where: Birmingham Rep: The Door Tickets: £8/£6.40 (concessions) 🎟️: buff.ly/H95I6ig

📣 Orders are now open for our latest issue, Wasafiri 123! Find interviews with Andre Bagoo, Cato Pedder, and Christina Sharpe, three translated Tamil poets, a poem by Devika Rege, and more fiction, reviews, articles, and poems. www.wasafiri.org/issues/wasaf...

Read an exclusive extract from Sara Ahmed's forthcoming book, NO IS NOT A LONELY UTTERANCE: THE ART AND ACTIVISM OF COMPLAINING — on the various ways we can engage in complaint, refusal, and resistance with our dignity, including whistle-blowing, song, language, protest, and more. buff.ly/2QiS2X8

Wasafiri is a magazine that thrives and survives from the support of our community. Deputy Chair of Trustees, @flostadt.bsky.social, speaks about Wasafiri as an extraordinary forum for writing and ideas from across the globe. Please consider subscribing to support our work: buff.ly/fKcSUXL

In June 2025, Wasafiri Deputy Editor, Vamika Sinha, spoke with 2025 International Booker Prize winners Banu Mushtaq and Deepa Bhasthi at a live event at @waterstones.bsky.social Islington, London. This interview is now available to read and watch on our website: buff.ly/ZxexpFP

Tk you Wasafiri for pubishing my piece ‘On (Mis)Translation and the Vein of Resistance’ It’s adapted from the performance lecture I gave at Princeton University early this year, abt the ideas behind my book amuk @ninearchespress.bsky.social. W gratitude to @shreedaisy.bsky.social for the invite.

Zoe Patterson reads from her life writing piece ‘Tawasul’ – titled after the major Abu Dhabi taxi company – from Wasafiri 122: The UAE Issue. In this personal essay about migrating to the UAE from Ontario, Zoe recalls the minutiae of shifting into unfamiliar power dynamics:

Using the term 'amuk' as her starting point, @mailbykite.bsky.social roots out the violences in colonial mistranslation, weaving in disability justice and personal experience in this extract from Wasafiri 123. Download the full piece for free throughout September: www.wasafiri.org/content/onli...

Join us for a conversation with Khaled Esguerra, Juan Gonzales, and Carlos Páez González – contributors to Wasafiri 122: The UAE Issue – with accompanying song & theatre performances, on Saturday, 13 September at Project Space, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai. Free tickets and full details: buff.ly/Qs27N8o

Join us at the launch of Wasafiri 122: The UAE Issue in its home country on Sunday, 14 September, at Bayt AlMamzar in Dubai — for an afternoon of conversation, readings, film, and a community meal. For full details and free tickets: buff.ly/FcOeODG

Myriam Louise Taleb is a multimedia artist based in Dubai, whose photography revolves around portraiture. In this new online photo essay, she elaborates on her evolving relationship to photography. www.wasafiri.org/content/came...

Women in Translation Month Special! ⚡ Read an exclusive extract from Yoko Tawada's first collection translated into English — EXOPHONY: VOYAGES OUTSIDE THE MOTHER TONGUE. Translated by Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda and out now with Dialogue Books. www.wasafiri.org/content/excl...

Digital subscribers and those with institutional access to Taylor & Francis: our latest issue, Wasafiri 123, is now available to read online: buff.ly/qMXIq36

3 DAYS LEFT! Wasafiri is open for creative submissions on the theme SOLIDARITIES until 24 August. Please share with your networks. We can't wait to read your work ✊ Full details and how to submit: buff.ly/6nOSBon

In celebration of Women in Translation Month, we're offering a curated bundle of four issues from our archive on translation from across the world – at a discount! Buy now for £30 ONLY (plus shipping) until Sunday, 31 Aug, 5pm BST: buff.ly/vpuqmHD

Our Autumn issue – Wasafiri 123 – is available to preorder now! Includes interviews with @abagoo.bsky.social and Christina Sharpe, our 2024 Essay Prize winners, and a Tibetan writers and artists showcase, alongside our usual mix of fiction, poetry, reviews, and more. buff.ly/Edj18wU

Thanks to all those who attended our ‘We’ve Got History: Wasafiri and Writing the UAE’ panel discussion at NYU London last month, as part of our launch events for Wasafiri 122: The UAE Issue ✨ Featuring: Aathma Nirmala Dious, Noora Jabir, and Vamika Sinha, with Laure Assaf and Deepak Unnikrishnan

In celebration of Kiran Desai's longlisting for the 2025 @thebookerprizes.com, we have made a super special conversation from our archives free to access and download. This conversation – between Kiran and her mother – was originally published in Wasafiri 59: Everything to Declare. buff.ly/8DwTwS2

We're thrilled to unveil the cover of our upcoming issue, Wasafiri 123! This gorgeous work is from Tibetan artist Tenzing Rigdol's 'Biography of a Thought' (2024) – the subject of our autumn 2025 issue's Art piece. Subscribe to Wasafiri here: buff.ly/O1mPej0

We're excited to announce the first live event with our inaugural International Translator in Residence, Deepa Bhasthi: 'No Story is Small'. When: Friday, 29 August, 7.50-8.30pm Where: India International Centre, New Delhi Register now and check out the full programme:

The first piece in our new Writing the Self, Writing Berlin series is a personal essay by @divyaghelani.bsky.social, reflecting on her entwined experiences of producing a novel and a baby via IVF, transforming her ideas on the act of creation. Read: buff.ly/wcjcPVL

A melancholic new short story by Fatima AlJarman – commissioned in tandem with Wasafiri 122: The UAE Issue – traces a daughter and father redefining their relationship in the aftermath of a loss. buff.ly/dv1D9PT

On Sunday 17 August, Wasafiri will be hosting a special event on the subject of craft at the @edbookfest.bsky.social, titled 'Making Matters', with Nina Mingya Powles and Stephanie Sy-Quia, chaired by Wasafiri Editor @sanagoyal.bsky.social. buff.ly/0EGSZJ5

Wasafiri invites creative submissions in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry in response to navigating interlinked global systems of oppressions and seeking to forge transnational solidarities across various boundaries. DEADLINE: Sunday 24 August, 2025 11.59pm BST

"More people live outside their country of origin today than at any other time in history; we are the majority. The term ‘minority’ seems inadequate when referring to ourselves – as migrants or people of colour – because it disempowers us." 🫶🏼

We're thrilled to announce 2025 International Booker Prize winner Deepa Bhasthi as Wasafiri's inaugural International Translator in Residence, in partnership with The SALT (South Asian Literature in Translation) Project! Full announcement: buff.ly/sMjex7E

In the sterile surroundings of a VFS visa application centre in Dubai, an unnamed narrator reflects on her failed marriage, familial and societal expectations, and what freedom means to her. Read Bhoomika Ghaghada's short story in Wasafiri 122: The UAE Issue, now on our website. buff.ly/YCxENQh

In this exclusive online essay, Dalia Al-Dujaili writes about the inspiration and research behind her debut, BABLYON, ALBION (@saqibooks.bsky.social), a nature-memoir exploring identity through the land-based mythologies of Britain and Iraq and family memories of migration. Read:

very good news this, and on behalf of @wasafirimag.bsky.social lovely to welcome another literary org to the Queen Mary fam too.

We're thrilled to hear that longtime Wasafiri contributor and friend, Kiran Desai, has been longlisted for the 2025 @thebookerprizes.com! After almost a two decade-hiatus, Desai's second novel could potentially make her a double Booker winner, as she previously won for her debut in 2006.

It was an utter joy celebrating the launch of Wasafiri 122: The UAE Issue at Reference Point in London this month ✨ Thank you to the speakers, musicians, guest editors, and Reference Point team for their support and brilliance! 📸 Photography by Augustine Paredes

Part two of a conversation between independent publishers and bookmakers Ahmad Makia, Zoe Patterson, and Vamika Sinha – which examines the history of the UAE's publishing landscape, and their roles within it – is now available to read on our website. wasafiri.org/content/must...